The two venerable KDE mailing lists, kde and kde-user, both hosted at lists.netcentral.net, are being phased out in favor of two new mailing lists, kde and kde-linux, hosted at the KDE.org domain. Current subscribers to the existing mailing lists will need to subscribe to the new mailing lists. Administration of the old mailing lists will cease August 15 and they will be shut down altogether on August 31. A big shout-out to NetCentral for providing excellent hosting services to KDE users for many years! Update: 08/02 5:25 AM by N: By popular demand, a kde-nonlinux list has been created as well.

For several years now I have served as the list admin for the kde
and kde-user mailing lists, the two "user-land" KDE mailing lists. The lists
were created long before I became list admin. In the interim, a lot has
changed with KDE and the people subscribed to the lists. Moreover, the
lists are the only large KDE lists to be hosted outside the kde.org domain
(they have been hosted atlists.netcentral.net). While I
have nothing but the greatest appreciation for NetCentral's contributions and
support of KDE (thanks!), KDE has outgrown the mailing list bot software installed
on that system, and we are unable to upgrade it. Accordingly, we are
scrapping the current kde and kde-user mailing lists at lists.netcentral.net
in favor of two new mailing lists,kde andkde-linux,
each hosted at master.kde.org's mailman interface.

The new mailing list kde
will focus specifically on operating-system independent questions and
discussions regarding KDE and third-party KDE software. Operating-system
independent means the questions and discussions will pertain to each KDE user
using the applicable KDE software, whether using FreeBSD, HPUX, Linux or
Solaris. Operating system specific questions and discussion are strictly
off-topic on this list.

The other new mailing list,kde-linux,
will focus on problems facing a desktop user running KDE on a Linux
distribution. Any question appropriate for kde is also
appropriate for kde-linux, but not vice-versa; the
latter is a superset of the former.

What, by way of example, is the difference? For instance, the question
"How do I change the margin size for KWord documents" is
appropriate for the kde list, as this has to do with KWord's
user interface and thus applies to users of all OSs.
On the other hand, the question
"How do I set up my printer using KDE" is only appropriate for the
OS-dependent kde-linux list, as it involves system configuration
of a printer and possible installation of device drivers.
If you don't understand the difference, and you use KDE with
Linux, please subscribe to kde-linux.

In my time as service as list admin for kde and kde-user, my observation has been that OS-dependant questions very heavily, if not exclusively, are centered on
Linux. For this reason the only OS-dependent list created at this juncture is kde-linux. Of course, if there is sufficient demand, mailing lists for other
operating systems will also be created (such as kde-bsd or kde-solaris).
But please don't request a list just to be "fair" -- there should be a real
need for the list, as an inactive list is just clutter.

See, it's only the Linux users that have the clueless misguided questions like "how do I install ghostscript?" or "how do i compile the kernel for usb?" on the kde lists. Figure Solaris and BSD users know better than that or know where to ask those questions.

Yeah, I considered that option, but having had some non-trivial bsd/kde issues in the past it would be nice to know whether there is any intention on the part of the kde team to abandon all support for non-linux os'.

I'm sorry you missed this fine point: it's not about the KDE developers abandoning support for any OS, it's about KDE users providing each other with support. KDE itself supports a broad array of Unixes, a fairly complete list is available at http://promo.kde.org/kde_systems.php. If BSD users want a list to support each other, or Windows users using KDE 1.1.2 on CygWin want a list to support each other, I am happy to create one for them. If you are a non-Linux user and don't mind Linux questions, subscribe to both lists. If Linux questions really annoy you, you have the choice now not to be annoyed; if they don't, sign up for both lists.

Please try to see this for what it is: providing users a forum to help each other.

2) If there were a plot to get rid of non-Linux support, what's the point of creating a general list and a Linux-specific one? The whole idea is to help out non-Linux users by sparing them questions about getting scanners to work under Red Hat.

3) The jibe about Gnome might have carried some bite in February. But since we now know how well the 1.4 release ran on Solaris (real Gnome, not the Ximian packages that came out months later), it falls a little flat.

The fact is that Linux-only questions are prevalent and Solaris-only questions are not. All this does is give an opportunity for non-Linux users to avoid Linux questions, and for the list admin (me) not to have to keep telling people they are off-topic when they have a question which for them seems quite on-topic.

If there is enough demand -- say 8 or more people tell me (pour at kde.org) that they will subscribe to a kde-solaris list, and one of them volunteers to be the list admin -- I will happily create the list. Obviously finding 8 interested Linux users is not a problem, we already have 13 subscribers and the list is but an hour old.

Alternatively, if the non-Linux users want a combined list (which doesn't make much sense to me), I will create that as well, I just need to see a real desire for it before creating lists.

Dre,
leaving alone the "waaaa, my OS ain't supported", assumed there is a question that is tied to, say solaris, where do I post them?
This is not about "is there enough demand to create a specific list", but where do posts go for OS's that don't have enough demand.
Will "kde" subscribers happily deal with a few solaris or a irix (yac) related messages a month?

> assumed there is a question that is tied to, say
> solaris, where do I post them?

I don't know, perhaps the same place that you have asked Solaris questions in the past?

> Will "kde" subscribers happily deal with a few
> solaris or a irix (yac) related messages a month?

I don't know, that community has yet to form. As the initial rules are no, if enforcement is demanded by a significant part of the community, then it probably would be a good idea to create a list for the people who wanted to discuss those issues. But I don't see the point in dicussing parades of horribles. There is nothing stopping KDE users with additional common interests from associating freely. If any group wants to associate on a KDE-related topic, KDE has created a mailing list for it. Just browse http://master.kde.org/mailman/listinfo to see what I am talking about -- there's even a kde-soccer list.

That's the current situation on the mailing lists, that all users regardless of OS receive Linux-only questions? The *nix users can join kde-linux as well, they just can't complain about Linux questions there. At least now they have a choice.

The point about list usage is fair enough, but you do need somewhere to collect all the OS specific stuff that isn't Linux. Why not create a group called kde-unix or kde-nonlinux to collect these extra mails lying around. The usage will fall far short of the kde or kde-linux groups, but I'd imagine there would be a steady tickle of traffic nonetheless. KDE is, afterall, meant to be a multi-platform UI.

> Why not create a group called kde-unix or
> kde-nonlinux to collect these extra mails lying > around.

Because all non-Linux Unices are not alike, and I would not want to be viewed as treating them that way. The point of having a kde-linux list is there undisputably is great deal of commonality in how you solve problems, whether you use distro X or Y. It is also clear that user questions on the lists tended to be rather heavily Linux-oriented.

That said, if people want another list, I am more than happy to create it. There is no list rationing, other than to provide only lists that will in fact be used. People just have to tell me what list they would like and I will create it. I know there was a demand for linux support, nobody had to tell me about it because I see it on the mailing lists every day.

You say "Any question appropriate for kde is also appropriate for kde-linux, but not vice-versa" . Does this mean that non linux specific messages posted to kde-linux will always be cross posted to kde? If not then as a Solaris user I will have to subscribe to kde-linux to see those messages, thus losing the point of having a separate linux list.

I feel that this is very important and needs to be addressed promptly, because the alternative would be anarchy and chaos. We will probably see an increased drug use amongst disillusioned users of KDE on HP/UX.

(this has been somewhat implied in the posts to the lists and on this forum) then the "default" list should be the one intended for Linux users. As a self-confessed luser (albeit a FreeBSD luser) myself, I will always try to choose the most appropriate list for my questions, but frequently simply do not have the knowledge of which is the appropriate list, and will therefore post to the most general list possible. If I were using Linux, I would almost surely post (or cross-post) to the _kde_ list, because I don't know whether my problem is related to Linux or KDE.

I think it would be better to operate from the principle that *non-Linux* users are more readily able to judge whether their problems are due to their OS rather than KDE itself. Additionally, I'd much rather have a list purely for FreeBSD than having to wade (okay, "wade" may be an exaggeration) through the Solaris-related issues. So why not have a _kde_ list for basic (assumed to be Linux) questions, a _kde-core_ (or something) list for issues known to be related to KDE itself, and lists like _kde-bsd_ and _kde-solaris_ for "fringe" systems?